About this project

$14,617

pledged of $2,500 goal

274

backers

What is Genegrafter?

Genegrafter is a fast-paced card and dice game that pits genetically enhanced characters against one another in an epic battle between good and evil. Hurl fireballs and lasers at your opponents while attempting to evade their mind attacks and antimatter explosions. Genegrafter is designed to be quick and easy to learn so that you can share it with anyone. But don't be fooled, there are deeper strategies that will need to be found before you can truly master it.

Recruit wraiths, cyborgs, and other super-powered characters in a war against your friends. Claim their genetic markers with each victory as you march closer to becoming the ultimate champion. Whether that is for good or evil is up to you.

Rewards

We know how much everyone likes rewards, so I've have spent quite a bit of time coming up with rewards you'll actually like. After backing quite a few projects myself, I based this list on the rewards that I enjoyed most. If you don't see it here, send me an email. If I can't figure out a good place to add it as a reward, maybe it will make it into the stretch goals category.

Here is just some of the cool swag we have to offer:

Gratitude, and boy are we thankful!

Special mention on the website

High Resolution Wallpaper

Print and Play versions of the game

T-Shirts

The Genegrafter™ game itself

3 Kickstarter Exclusive Promo cards

Additional Promos based on the likeness of some of our backers

Mini-Expansion

Put yourself in the game by getting your likeness on a limited number of character cards

Signed prototypes

Advice on starting a project of your own

Stretch Goal #4 - $16000

Boost Cards:

Each player chooses one Boost card at random to be used throughout the game. As long as you have a character in play, you will get its benefit.

Some include perks such as always adding a die when defending, or drawing an extra card per turn. Some of the money from this stretch goal will go to producing the art for these cards (sorry, don't have any to show for this card yet, but you know it's going to be good!). There will be at least 4 (one for each player)

The completed game includes:

Fancy commercial packaging

54 card deck

5 Blue dice

5 Red dice

Rulebook

Mini-Expansion

The mini-expansion focuses on a new card type: Gear. New characters, abilities, events, and of course, gear will add even more strategy and fun to your Genegrafter deck.

The artwork formally known as Prints

Everyone at the $30 level and above can add a print signed by the artist to their reward for only $15. Or add 3 for $35!

Canvas prints are also available for only $125 (shipping included). These are 16"x20" and are absolutely beautiful.

Where your money goes

I've already paid the money for the website, trademarking, original artwork, prototypes, box design, logos, and legal fees so that you don't have to. The funds raised during this campaign cover production costs, shipping, and the fees collected by Kickstarter and Amazon.

The more pledges we get, the more stretch goals we will offer and the higher the quality of the final product. And that doesn't mean that if we don't make a lot you won't get a great product, it just means that with higher numbers we can justify the expense of some things like... well, wait and see when we hit the stretch goals. I'm excited to unveil some of the mysteries as we go.

Kickstarter Exclusives

For those of you that choose the pledges that include the 3 Promo cards, we're going to be printing these especially for the Kickstarter backers and these will only be available for Kickstarter backers. It's just another way for us to say thank you for believing in our dream before anybody else.

You will also receive additional promo character cards based on the likeness of some of our backers. So the more backers we have for that level, the more promos you get! We are currently at 11 cards in addition to the original 3!

Shipping

We've factored in the shipping costs into all of the rewards for those in the USA and Canada so there is no need to include anything extra unless you want to. Please note however that if you do not live in the United States or Canada then please add an additional $10 to your pledge to help cover the additional cost of shipping.

Backers pledging at the $175 reward level and up do not have to worry about shipping. We figure by this level you've earned the best shipping option possible.

Gameplay

This should hopefully give you a good idea of how the game is played and we appreciate any questions or comments you may have. We are redoing the videos so please bear with us as my video editing skills aren't nearly as good as my game design.

Basic turn:

Draw

Play character

Battle!

Battle:

Choose a character to attack

Each player plays ability cards using their superpowers

Attacker and Defender roll dice, loser is damaged (Defender wins in a tie)

Players put characters they've damaged in their Gene Pool

Origins

Genegrafter is a card and dice game that was designed to be easy to pick up and start playing within minutes but still offer enough complexity so that more advanced players won’t get bored. I’ve been playing card games since the first one came out in 1993 and I truly believe that we’ve managed to incorporate some of the best aspects of the genre in Genegrafter.

This project actually started with a video game that is based on the same characters and storyline but we found the combat to be unwieldy. In an effort to force simplicity I began creating cards to represent the characters and super powers that you could have in the game. As I created more and more cards for testing and creating video game mechanics, they took on a life of their own imbuing the card game with its unique personality.

Design

After months of playtesting I found an artist to design some nicer templates for the cards and decided to take the game to the next level as an actual physical product that can be enjoyed by everyone that likes a great card game. I grew up with comics and games of all kinds and this project has become a labor of love in an effort to combine those things to share with others. We have done our homework and the pieces are in place to mass produce a truly amazing product, but first we need your help to get the ball rolling.

I’ve put a lot of my own money into getting great artwork, card designs, packaging design, and domain names but now I need help with generating enough funds to produce the game at higher quantities so that the price point is accessible to the average player. The more funds we raise the higher the quality product we can produce for everyone.

Stretch Goals

Over the next 60 days we hope to not only reach our goal but to continue smashing through a carefully thought out progression of stretch goals that will ensure that everyone gets a great product and some cool swag along the way. I can’t wait to tell you all about it, but the only way to find out is to tell all your friends about this great game and believe in us as much as we believe in the power of Kickstarter.

Note Regarding Stretch Goals:

The $125 reward was added AFTER these were announced so that it already takes these goals into account. So it's 5 copies of the game (4 + 1).

Stretch Goal #1 - $7000 - Completed!

Everyone at pledge level $30 and above will receive oneadditionalcopy of Genegrafter for free!

At $30 you get 2 copies!

At $75 you get 3 copies!

At $95 you get 3 signed and numbered copies!

At $225 you get 3 signed and number copies AND your likeness on a special promo card!

Stretch Goal #2 - $10000 - Completed!

Everyone at the $45 level and above will get an additional copy of the mini-expansion.

Additionally, anyone at the $95 level and above will get 4 signed and numbered copies of Genegrafter AND 4 copies of the mini-expansion (not signed)!

At $45 you get 2 copies of Genegrafter and 2 copies of the mini-expansion!

At $95 you get 4 signed and numbered copies of Genegrafter and 4 copies of the mini-expansion (not signed) and the official T-Shirt!

At $225 you get 4 signed and number copies and your likeness on a special promo character card and 4 copies of the mini-expansion (not signed) and your likeness on the Kickstarter Exclusive cards!

Stretch Goal #3 - $12500 - Completed!

Everyone will get a custom die to use for a gameplay variant (this means it is an optional rule you can choose to play with if you so desire).

Springboard Seal of Quality

We have been approved to use the Springboard Seal of Quality. What does that mean you ask?

"All titles approved for the Springboard Seal of Quality are vetted by the industry professionals at Game Salute. During this comprehensive evaluation process, we work with the publisher to ensure quality. This includes ensuring solid designs, thorough playtesting and refinement, excellent presentation, and high quality components. We help great games become even better and we provide valuable advice for refining and reworking games that don’t make the cut."

So basically it means we have cleared some hurdles to become recognized as a quality game in the industry!

More information

The Genegrafter.com website is still under construction but hit us up on Twitter @Genegrafter.

The long answer is that the boxed game is meant to be the core game that can be played right out of the box without any extra cards. We would love to be able to offer expansions in the future as well as expanded rules for customized deck building strategies.

Sorry guys, you were way faster at picking up on this game than we expected. Honestly I thought I would have a bit of time to have someone design a nice rulebook before everyone started asking for it. Boy was I wrong! I'll be working hard over the next couple days to get something out to you.

[UPDATE: A rough version of the rules without pictures can now be found here: http://www.dataspire.com/kickstarter/Rules.pdf. The bluffing rules have changed to be used during combat. You can no longer arbitrarily put Trophy Cards in your Trophy Pile]

The beauty of all of this is that you won't get charged until the end of the project. So you can pledge now, or change your pledge, any time between now and the end of the project and you won't be billed until the end.

No. As we get more pledges we will offer more exclusive items and goodies to our backers. Don't forget that you can cancel your pledge at any time so it costs you nothing to become a backer until the project date (January 20th).

Not yet. At the end of the project when all funding is completed we will send you a form to fill out with your shipping information, shirt sizes, etc. Until then just hang tight and keeping telling your friends about the project so that we can hopefully send you even more than you bargained for at the end.

In the upper-right corner there should be a blue button that says "Manage my pledge". Just click on that and add the appropriate amount to the pledge. At the end of the project I will send a survey where you can tell me exactly what the extra funds are for.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $30 or more
About $30

***COMPLETIONIST*** One COMPLETE copy of Genegrafter™ with deck, 10 colored dice, rulebook, and fancy commercial packaging PLUS a special promo pack of 3 Kickstarter Exclusive cards. Also the rewards listed previously: gratitude, thanks on the website, and high resolution background. This is the way the game was designed to be and for choosing our vision, we thank you even more.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $125 or more
About $125

BEST VALUE: 5 Signed and Numbered copies of Genegrafter AND 5 copies of the mini-expansion AND 5 copies of the promo pack AND a signed print AND your name in a special section of the rulebook as a High Roller

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $175 or more
About $175

[EARLY BIRD] Everything above PLUS you'll see YOUR LIKENESS as one of the Kickstarter promo character cards. Give us some pictures of yourself and our artist will create a new character based on you, forever immortalized in the game. Pick from a list of available powers, first come first serve.
This is a special reward created to thank those of you that join us early in the campaign.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $225 or more
About $225

Everything above PLUS you'll see YOUR LIKENESS as one of the Kickstarter promo character cards. Give us some pictures of yourself and our artist will create a new character based on you, forever immortalized in the game. Pick from a list of available powers, first come first serve.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $1,000 or more
About $1,000

Help on creating your next gaming project. During the course of this endeavor we've contacted tons of manufacturers and gained quite a bit of knowledge regarding the design process and prototyping. Save some time by letting us help you. We’ll give you four 30 minute Skype calls with the creator and producer of the game to ask anything you want about printing challenges, game design, finding artists, inspiration, you name it. You ALSO get a signed original prototype deck, your name and likeness as a promo character card, 10 complete copies of the game, 10 sets of promo cards, 10 copies of the mini-expansion, 2 T-shirts, the high resolution wallpaper, print and play PDF, your name in the rulebook, and thanks on the website.